Runaway
by KKT
Summary: AU When Tala rejected her unintentionally she moves away,and started fresh. 3 years later all was well untill she receives news that Tala was getting married. TalaOcBrooklyn COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

Yes, another new fic even though Mixed Up is on HIATUS, though I'm prioritizing Meteor Garden. R&R please.

Milena groaned. How she got stuck walking the Ivanov's dog while they had a kid was beyond her. What was worse was that she was actually friends with the spoiled brat and said brat hasn't stopped teasing her about it. 'Good thing today is the last day I have to suffer through this.' The Russian girl sighed in relief as she brushed her dark blue bangs out of her bright crimson eyes. Her dark blue hair was layered complexly just above her shoulders giving her a cute look. She was of average height at 5'6 though compared to most of her friends she felt short.

"Hey, if it isn't dog walking dog." A smooth voice taunted from the doorway of an enormous mansion, if it could still be classified as a mansion, though Milena thought otherwise.

"Shut up if you want to keep that pretty little mouth of yours." Milena glared, realizing her mistake too late, though the smirking red head didn't seem to notice, that or he just didn't care. 'Probably has two thirds of the school's girl population telling him that every day.' She thought bitterly. 'Should I just follow Cathy's advice and tell him? But… what if he rejects me? After all, he has plenty of girls already chasing after him that are infinitely better than me…' she pondered to herself.

"Whatever, here's your precious dog, I'm leaving." She replied curtly handing over the majestic white husky over to the taunting turquoise eyes before getting into her red mini convertible and driving off.

At The Movies

"So? Did you tell him?" a chinese girl with red-ish brown hair that was layered past her shoulders asked Milena, she was a bit shorter than the latter at 5'5. They were leaning against a wall in the cinema waiting for Milena's older brother, Kai Hiwatari to come back with their tickets.

"What do you think?" Milena asked half-heartedly to her best friend Cathy. The Chinese girl had parted her hair slightly to the right, so that her hair partially covered a bit of the left side of her face. She wore semi-baggy jeans with a black tank top and had multiple bracelet's on each arm as well as two necklaces around her neck. Milena wore something similar except she had on a form fitting red t-shirt and a few chains adorning her fairly tight black pants.

"Haha, so you chickened out?" Cathy asked laughing.

"Hey! I'm not like you, I can't just tell anyone how I feel about them!" Milena protested pouting.

"Hey guys, come on, I got the tickets." Kai went over to his group of friends that were leaning against the wall. The group consisted of Johnny, Kai, Enrique, Tala, Cathy and Milena.

After only the first 20 min. of the movie, Cathy and Milena got bored beyond salvation. The movie was completely designed for guys, all it was was shootings, drag races and whores. Yet they didn't want to waste good money, so they stayed until the very end.

Somehow "magically" after the movie ended, only her and Tala were waiting at the meeting spot.

"Where is everyone else? They should be out by now." Tala asked boredly.

"How the hell should I know?" Milena shot back, seething inside, making a note to herself to kill Cathy the next time they met.

"Knowing them they might've left and ditched us here like fools." Tala stated, his turquoise eyes clearly amused at the turn of events..

'crap' Milena thought to herself.

"Um, Tala, can you give me a lift home? Kai drove me here." Milena asked hesitantly.

"Sure if you don't mind my bike."

Milena groaned inwardly. 'I must have really pissed off the fates in my last life or they wouldn't hate me this much.' She thought.

20 min. later

"Where here." Tala announced to the frightened Milena. Milena really hated motorcycles, they scared the shit out of her.

"Oh… um…Tala, can I talk to you?" She asked quietly, trying to get her blood flowing again, knowing she must be as pale as a ghost, considering she was fairly pale to begin with.

"What is it? I have to get home soon." He asked, sounding harsher than he meant.

"Oh, never mind then, it can wait. Bye!" She waved as he sped away.

Milena shook her head as she walked up to the massive double doors of her house. Although she always made fun of the size of Tala's house, her's was just as impressive. But hey, they lived in the same neighborhood, so that should have been a no brainer.

When she entered her bedroom, she found Johnny, Enrique and Cathy all waiting there for her, sprawled out across her room, she guessed Kai was somewhere nearby as well.

"Ok, start talking if you value your life." She growled grabbling Enrique's shirt.

"About what? How sexy you are?" Enrique asked with a smirk, but a quick glare from Tala walking in the room wiped the smirk right off.

"No," Milena snorted very unlady like, "about how you guys left Talaand I back in the cinema."

"Oh, that was Cathy's idea." Johnny stated offhandedly.

Milena instantly turned her glare to Cathy.

"So, did you tell him? I gave you the perfect opportunity!" Cathy asked, oblivious of the death glare Milena gave her.

"You like Tala?" Kai asked smirking.

Milena groaned. It seemed like thanks to Cathy now everyone knew her little "secret" except Tala himself.

"No." Milena answered curtly. "But since you're _so_ eager for him to find out, why don't you just go tell him yourself?" She asked sarcastically.

"Sure!" Cathy replied eagerly ignoring the sarcasm.

"Wait! I didn't actually mean it!" Milena protested grabbing Cathy's arm, but missed and got a chunk of her golden-red hair.

"Ow! What the hell did you do that for?" Cathy complained rubbing her head.

"Woops, sorry." Milena replied sheepishly holding up her hand that had a couple of hairs still grabbed in it.

"Hey, you guys want to go to that new skateboarding park that just opened 20 min. away from here?" Johnny asked boredly, though he realized that bit of information he just picked up could be quite useful in the future, he smirked slightly.

"Sure, I'm game." Enrique agreed getting up from his spot of a been bag.

"Are you two coming?" Kai asked leaning against the doorframe.

"Nah, we'll skip." Milena and Cathy decided.

After the guys left, Cathy began rummaging Milena's computer to see if her red haired friend downloaded any new songs she didn't inform her of.

Suddenly, the phone rang, breaking the comforting silence.

"Hello?" Milena picked up the phone on her night table.

"Hey, is Kai there?" A perky voice asked. Milena recognized it right away as one of the stuck-up blonde sluts in her biology class.

"Actually, he is, but he has a horrible head-ache and the doctor ordered him to stay away from dumb blondes so his migraine doesn't get worse." Milena answered coldly before hanging up.

"Why'd you go and ruin Kai's fun?" Cathy asked laughing, although she knew very well why.

"Just protecting my older bro like any good sister should." The navy haired girl relied with a grin.

"Although I can't but feel sort of sorry for them, even if their stuck-up bitchy ditzs." Milena laughed. "After all, they don't see any of Kai's vices, all they see is his hot exterior and half of his personality."

"Oh yeah, those are just the _worst_ qualities a guy could have." Cathy replied sarcastically.

"Hey! Looks aren't everything." Milena protested.

"Haha, yeah, that's why all the guys you liked and went out with were some of the hottest or cutest guys in Bakuten, according to you, whether they were from private or public schools." Cathy stated, raising an eyebrow at her blushing friend.

Milena's face went as red as a tomato, but she knew better than to open her mouth and say something stupid, so she just sat their silently.

Later that night, after Cathy went home, Milena's thought's drifted to her upcoming soccer game tomorrow. It was going to be the regional finals, and by some miracle, both the girl's varsity and boy's varsity both made it to the regional finals. In fact, the coach was so pleased that they might have a change to take both regional positions that he was letting them skip classes and train the whole day before the game tomorrow night.

Next Day

That night, once they got to the stadium where they were playing, by the time the girls got there the boys were just finishing. Cathy was waiting for Yoshimi to finish changing as Tala was walking towards the guy's locker's, fully geared and very dirty, though extremely proud. "Hey Tala, congrats, you guys won regionals!" Cathy congradulated.

"Thanks. And I scored one of the two goals that won us the game too!" Tala boasted happily.

"Haha, stop bragging, anyways, I wanted to ask you something. Do you like anyone right now?" Cathy asked getting uncomfortable.

"Are you trying to hit on me?" Tala asked with a smirk.

"Argh no! Why would I hit on you? Get your head out of the gutter!" Cathy just barely yelled.

"Ok, I get it."

"K, let me rephrase that, do you like Milena?" Cathy tried again.

"Sure, she's awesome. She's like my homegirl, after all, I've known her for as long as I've known Kai, which is like, what, 16 years now? Which is a long time, considering we're only 18. So yeah, she's a really good friend." The red head finished.

"Well, would you like her as more than a friend? Because she's been crushing on you ever since end of sophomore year, and we're already seniors, hell, we're graduating in 2 months."

Tala didn't reply, looking into the distance with a bored look on his face.

"Sure sure, anyways, I have to go shower, I'll talk to you later." Tala answered quickly before entering the guy's changing room.

"Hey Cathy…"Milena's voice greeted from behind Cathy, dangerously sweet and calm.

"Hey Milena! Um… Just how much did you hear?" Cathy asked hesitantly.

"All of it." Milena said coolly.

"Well, he didn't say anything, so you still have a chance.

A whistle blew in the distance, signaling the end of intermission, and the girls were up.

"Well, we have to get on the field and prove we're just as good as the guys!" Cathy urged before jogging into the stadium.

Later

It was during the last 2 min. of the game, and the score was tied at 2:2, Milena was dribbling the ball to her opponent's goal, hoping to score the winning goal so they wouldn't have to go into overtime, as she was starting to tire out already, after vigorous training that afternoon and now the neck-to-neck game. As she dodged a defencegirl, and was about to pass the ball to one of her teammates waiting for her near the goal, she caught site of two pointed red hair on the other team's benches, flirting with one of the opponents back up players. Everything seemed to stop around Milena. All she could see was Tala laughing and flirting with the opponents backup player.

"You ok Milena?" Cathy's voice broke Milena's daze. It was then that she realized the didn't have the ball anymore, and the game was over. The defencegirl she dodged had come around and took the ball and the other team scored. And won regionals. Cathy slowly led Milena off the field.

"Hey, it's ok, nobody will blame you." Kai's soft voice reassured, as he jogged up from the benches. Milena realized she was crying, as the warm, salty liquid flowed down her face. Milena couldn't believe it, even if Tala was screwing the girl, she shouldn't have let that distract her. She was sure they could have won if only, if only Milena had passed that ball on. If only…Milena wiped away her tears, determined not to cry and be weak like that, after all, she herself hated that kind of girls, who cried at every disappointment, she wanted to be strong, and go against the stereotype society had set for those Barbie doll girls, though she was probably one of those, she let her love life control her too much.

"So what happened out there?" Cathy asked once they were in the changing room.

"He got a new slut." Milena replied quietly, her voice oddly detached.

"Oh." Was all the got as Cathy got up and went outside.

'how could you Tala?' Milena thought bitterly. 'this is so embarrassing, especially after Cathy told him all that. But at least this answers whether he sees me as something other than Kai's little sister.' Milena thought.

At Hiwatari residence

Milena made up her mind. She was going to accept the invitation to go to the University of Toronto. She slowly packed her bags, knowing that Toronto's climate was fairly different from Vancouver's, so she decided to pack a little of everything, just in case. After a short phone call to her father explaining the change of events, and a little beggin, she decided she'd better write a letter to Cathy explaining what she was doing.

_Yo Cathy,_

_You might be wondering where I am this time tomorrow. The truth is that I'm most likely on a plane to Toronto. No, I'm not going on some secret vacation I never told you about. I've actually decided to finish the last two months of high school there and go to the University of Toronto. Please don't tell anyone where I am, not Kai, and especially not Tala. But if there's something urgent, you can reach me at 248-1632. Please don't leave this letter lying around. I'll really miss you, and I hope you have fun at University of Vancouver come fall. You probably already know the reason I'm leaving, so I won't say anymore, but please don't tell Tala anything more about me ok? I'll miss you a lot._

_ 3 Milena H. _

A few hours later and Milena was on a small plane headed to Ontario. Her dad had promised to transfer everything and set up a new school for her to go to before graduation.

She sighed as she remembered all the great times with all her friends. 'No!' she thought. 'the reason I'm leaving is to forget my past. I want a new beginning, one where I can throw away my weaknesses.'

'New life, here I come!' She thought excitedly as she stepped off the plane onto Toronto.

Wahaha? How do you like? I know it may be a bit rash for Milena to leave her hometown just because of rejection, but she's a really rash person

_R&R_ and we'll see how Milena fair's out in Toronto and who she'll meet.


	2. Chapter 2

R&R Please

Milena slowly drifted to a light slumber.

A stewardess telling her that the plane had reached its destination waked her up. Toronto.

She slowly got off the plane and went to look for her single luggage bag that she brought. Her dad had promised to ship the rest of her stuff at a later date.

As Milena got out of the cab that brought her to downtown Toronto, she gazed at the tall buildings in awe. She could actually see the CN Tower from where she was standing! She realized gleefully.

Once Milena opened the condo door, she was amazed at the well-kept condition, considering her dad only stayed here a few weeks at the most all year round. The condo had wall-to-wall windows covering most of the walls, each covered with beautifully designed curtains. There was a well-sized balcony with a patio set to the right of the door. Once she put her luggage down and went to check out the 3 bedrooms, she noticed a fax lying on a decorative table beside the living room. She picked up the fax slowly. It read:

_Dear Milena_

_You will attend Victoria High for the last two months until graduation. I have the address printed below as well as a map. I've sent your car along with another things you said you needed and they should be arriving this afternoon. I'll visit you sometime in July with a surprise for you!_

_Love your father._

Milena studied the map her father gave her. He had been quite thoughtful, and put a huge "x" where she was right now, as well as a mini school icon where her school was. Thankfully, her school was fairly close to her condo, so it wouldn't be a cross-city drive, Milena had a feeling her father was also behind that. She smiled at how carefully planned out he had everything in jus under a day.

Two days later, on a sunny Monday morning, Milena slowly trudged to the parking lot of the condo. She was thoroughly exhausted. She had spent the whole weekend buying things, from small necessities to cookware as well as organizing all the things that her dad had sent over shortly after she had arrived.

She drove slowly along the busy Toronto streets, and after only a few short minutes she had reached her school. Victoria High. It was an old building, yet very majestic. She had heard that it was one of the cities oldest high schools, though the inside was just recently renovated due to wiring and piping problems. After she made a quick visit to the office, and got her schedule as well as a map of the school, she started her search of her first class.

As she reached the class and walked in, she scanned the room quickly. It was a medium sized room with about 20 people inside. A Chinese boy with spiky black hair and a red headband with a ying-yang sign gave her a small smile when he saw her walk in, but otherwise he paid no further attention to her, as he went back to an engaged argument with an orange haired girl.

Finally, the teacher seemed to notice the new transfer student had walked in, and walked up to her.

"Why don't you introduce yourself to your classmates?" The teacher asked loudly as to get everyone else's attention as well.

"Ok." Milena answered brightly. "My name's Milena Hiwatari, I just moved here from Vancouver, and I really like sports. And I still have a brother that's still in Vancouver who's also graduating this year. I guess that's about it…hahaha." Milena laughed nervously. She didn't really like everyone to be staring at her as if analyzing her.

"Ok, class." The teacher clapped cheerfully. "Why don't you guys in turn introduce yourselves to Milena?" The teacher asked perkily. A chorus of "ok's" as well as a few groans followed it.

"I'm Salima Aromi." The red haired girl that was arguing with the Chinese boy from before said raising an arm with a small cute smile.

"I'm Rei Kon." The said Chinese boy introduced with another grin.

"Hey Milena! I'm Max Tate." A cheerful blonde said in a singsong voice giving her a huge smile.

"I'm Michael Walker." A maroon haired guy with a baseball cap smirked and winked at her, which Milena raised an eyebrow at.

"I'm Mistel Kehl." A blonde boy said boredly leaning back in his seat, his braid almost brushing the floor.

"I'm Emily Parker." Another mousier orange haired girl raised her arm. This one had big round glasses and was grossly involved in her physics homework.

The next few followed quickly, there were two slutty girls that were obviously high off something, called Ashley and Caitlin or something of the sort, and a few tomboys, and a huge group of skaters. Some councilor must have not done their research or else they wouldn't but one big clique all in one class. Milena thought giggling a little to herself. Then there were the 'unpopular' people who gathered in the corner of the room.

After everyone finished introducing himself or herself, the teacher offered Milena a seat right in front of Salima, which Milena accepted gratefully, feeling that she could become good friends with Salima.

After the first few days at her new school, Milena automatically became friends with Salima, Emily, Rei, Max and Mistel, and apparently, from what she heard from Salima, she had become Michael's newest 'conquest' to try and win her over. Though every time Michael asked her out she would politely turn him down, since her heart was still with a certain red haired god.

Before Milena realized, it was grad night. As she started chatting with a few acquaintances, she had found out that Salima, Rei, Mistel and a few other people she wasn't as close to were all going to Toronto U. Milena started to slowly wander aimlessly, as she passed Rei dancing with Salima.

"Do you want to dance?" Michael asked politely. Milena gave a small smile. It wasn't very often Michael would be so gentleman like, so she accepted with a small nod.

It was a slow song, as Milena wrapped her arms around Michael's neck.

"So, what university are you going to?" Michael whispered in her ear loudly due to the loud music.

"Toronto U." Milena replied loudly. Michael nodded slowly, as if thinking over a physics problem.

"So will you go out with me?' He asked out of nowhere.

"Huh? How did that come up? And no, sorry." Milena answered quickly.

After the song ended, Milena slowly backed away, and left the hotel's ballroom. As Milena was staring out onto Lake Ontario from the hotel's open patio, she was slowly emerged in her memories, and the life that she left behind. It seemed like it was impossible to forget about the bright eyes and blood red hair that seemed to occupy her thoughts more often than not.

Milena sighed, not wanting to think about him, as she slowly walked back into the ballroom, where she knew she would at least have something to take her mind off her past.

"Hey Milena!" Mistel called out. Milena smiled, she really grew attached to the blonde that always seemed to have a way of cheering her up when she was feeling a bit down. There was just something about his bright aqua eyes and cheerful personality that you couldn't help but smile at.

"I found this really awesome skate park that I was wondering if you wanted to go to with me and the guys." Mistel asked casually. He had found out she skated regularly one afternoon at her locker.

Flashback

Milena had to stop by her locker to pick up a book she had forgotten for her next class, and Mistel decided to accompany her since he had nothing else to do.

"Who's that?" Mistel asked pointing to a picture of Milena and Johnny that was taking in front of a skate park. Johnny had an arm casually swung around Milena's shoulder, while Milena was glaring at something beside the person taking the picture.

"Is that your boyfriend?" Mistel asked grinning.

"No!" Milena answered quickly. "He's just one of my really good friends.

"Hey, so are you good at boarding?" Mistel asked changing the subject.

"I'm ok I guess, I go pretty often with my brother and his friends so yeah."

End of Flashback

"Sure, who else is going?" Milena asked.

"Uh, Michael, Rei, a couple of people you don't really know, oh, and Ashley." Mistel ticked off the names with his fingers.

"When is it?" Milena asked, just in case in overlapped with her father's visit.

"I'll call you, we haven't really confirmed it yet." Mistel replied with a grin.

"Ok, well, I'm going to go now, bye!" Mistel called out with a salute like wave as he walked off, his blonde braid swinging behind him.

Mid-July

Milena couldn't believe this. Her father's surprise was to bring Kai and Cathy over to Toronto. They were coming in a week, the same week that she was supposed to go boarding with Mistel and them.

'Oh well.' Milena thought.

'Maybe Kai and Cathy would want to go boarding with me.' She thought half amused at her old friend and brother meeting her new friends.

Milena was relieved though, at first when she got a phone call from her brother, he was planning on bringing Tala with him, but after a few minutes of screaming and yelling, Kai had decided otherwise, or else he would be risking more than a slap once he got to Toronto.

Milena couldn't suppress a grin though. She was honestly excited about seeing Cathy again. Although she could probably wait another decade or more to see Kai again.

'I wonder how long their staying for?' Milena pondered to herself.

A Week Later

Milena checked her watch for the nth time. Their flight was now exactly 34 minutes and 28 seconds late. She thought to herself, amusing herself at how impatient she was.

Milena signed. She had been here for an hour now, and was getting extremely bored. But she should be feeling sorry for Kai and Cathy. After all, they were the ones on the 5-hour flight.

Milena gave a smirk worthy of the name 'Hiwatari'. How she pitied Cathy, being stuck with her anti-social brother for 5 straight hours with no escape. After all, one can only start so many conversations that would be replied with a mere 'hn'.

"Flight T315 is now on the runaway arriving from Vancouver. Please await arrival at gate 6. I repeat, Flight T315 is now arriving from Vancouver at gate 6." A voice over the P.A. system announced.

Milena grinned.

'Finally! Took them long enough to get here.' She thought happily.

Just then, she said a tuff of light blue-ish gray hair sticking up from the crowd.

"Kai!" She cried out running over to them.

"Hey lil sis, what up?" Kai asked ruffling her hair, which he knew she hated, along with being called his 'little' sister, even though he was only exactly 23 minutes and 48 seconds older than she was.

She gave a heated glare at Kai, which could match Kai's own death glare and turned her attention to her best friend.

"Hey Cathy! I missed you so much! Sorry for the crude farewell, but you know I do everything a bit exaggerated." Milena grinned sheepishly giving her a hug.

"It's ok, but you'd better tell me everything once we get to your condo." Cathy laughed as they started walking towards the escalator that led them out of the airport.

"What about our luggage?" Kai asked still standing there.

" Well, BIG brother, you can go get them, we'll be waiting for you in parking lot 4 by my old car." Milena smirked as she and Cathy got on the escalator, leaving a grumbling Kai, though he knew Milena would get back at him somehow, he just didn't think she would think of something that fast.

After they started driving away from the airport Kai was ignored once again as Milena and Cathy talked non-stop.

"Once they got into the condo Kai's crimson eyes widened again.

"Holy shit…" He muttered. "Why does father always spend so much money on you?' He asked glaring at her.

"Because I'm his little angel." Milena answered in an over sugary voice as Kai snorted at her answer. "And maybe because unlike _someone_, I don't get in so much trouble in school and don't piss off our chaperones so much." Milena answered with a bright smile.

Kai growled. "Hn, that's because you never get caught, but admit it, you're just as bad as me."

Milena smiled innocently. "Who, me?" She asked pointing at herself, blinking her identical crimson orbs and pouting slightly.

Cathy burst out laughing. It was that little act that had gotten her friend out of so much trouble.

"Anyways," Kai started, "Where do I put my stuff.

Milena grinned. "You, brother dear, sleep here." She led him to the smallest room in the condo, which only had a single bed, a dresser and a small desk.

"What the hell?" Kai asked glaring daggers at his so called sister again. "Then why, may I ask, sister _dear,_ is Cathy's room almost twice as big as mine?" Kai asked gritting his teeth.

"I don't know, bring your complaint to the architects of the building." Milena laughed as she left Kai to his unpacking, while she went back to chatting with Cathy.

The Next Day

Milena and Cathy woke up around eight in the morning and ordered breakfast from a local pancake house, since they were both exhausted from staying up all night giggling at every little thing.

"Do you order all your meals?" Cathy asked, her mouth full of pancakes.

"Nah, I actually cook most of my meals believe it or not!" Milena boasted proudly. It was a known fact that Milena could barely cook if her life depended on it. And it was obvious Kai was still quite aware of this fact.

"Really? Then I'm amazed you haven't died of food poisoning at your own hands yet." Kai commented with amusement. Milena only stuck out her tongue at him quickly.

Around one that afternoon, the doorbell rang loudly. Kai was sprawled on the floor watching television, with no sign of getting up, and Cathy was taking a shower, so Milena sighed and got off the couch.

"Hey!" Mistel greeted with a smile. Kai's back was facing him, so Mistel didn't recognize him from the photo's Milena showed him, and couldn't really see the family resemblance, so he asked with a teasing tone, "Is that your boyfriend?" He asked winking, at the same time that Kai turned around and asked the same thing.

Milena looked back and forth between the two guys, with a look of disgust and amusement.

"Wow Milena, you work fast, you come for 2 months and you already got a boyfriend?" Kai asked smirking.

Milena groaned, "Mistel, this is my brother, and Kai, this is my _friend_ from school." She introduced before the situation got worse.

Kai got up. He stood about half a head taller than Mistel.

"So, you ready to go?" Mistel asked casually, not seeming to be affected by Kai's 'inspection'.

Kai's eyes brightened visibly. "And I'm assuming I'm invited also?" He asked as Mistel nodded his head. As they were about to leave, Milena realized what was wrong with this situation.

"Wait!" Milena called out. "We have to wait for Cathy still."

Mistel grinned at Kai. "You brought you're girlfriend along to visit your sister?" He asked.

Cathy came out just then She was wearing a black sleeveless tank top and baggy silver basketball shorts. She glared at Kai instantly.

"What did you say about me?" She demanded crossing her arms. Kai smirked.

"I wish, but she's way to stubborn." He stated laughing. Mistel gave his own smirk at Kai.

"Well, go for it man." He laughed as he slapped Kai's back casually as if they were already old friends.

"Nah, last time I tried I got punched. I swear this girl punches harder than her slaps!" Kai laughed as he ducked yet another punch from Cathy.

Milena stole a glance at Cathy. She obviously didn't like being the subject of the conversation without knowing what the conversation was about. Milena decided to intervene before she had a dead two-toned blue haired boy on her hands.

"Mistel, this is _my_ friend Cathy." She introduced.

She then turned to Cathy. "We're going boarding, want to come?" She asked as Cathy nodded her head, though her glare still didn't leave Kai. Mistel and Kai obviously found this amusing as they walked on ahead chuckling to themselves. Milena laughed nervously, though glad that her brother and Mistel hit off pretty well. As they got into Mistel's red 2003 Honda Civic, Mistel was driving as Kai sat in the passenger seat, and Milena and Cathy sat in the back.

A bad thought suddenly hit Milena. "Yo Kai?" She tapped his hair from behind him.

"Yeah?" He asked turning around.

"You might want to be careful, I know some girls in my school who are kind of obsessed with you…" She started slowly waiting for his reaction.

R&R Please and check out my other story Meteor Garden shameless plug lol


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for all the reviews. And I realized I've been spelling Mistel's name wrong, so now its spelt Mystel.

Kai smirked slightly.

"Am I that famous that there are fan clubs in my name on the other side of the country?" He asked no one in particular quite amused.

Milena snorted as she delivered a well-placed slap on the back of his head. "I'm serious! Just be careful of some of those girls." Milena warned shuddering at the thought of her brother with one of those whores.

Cathy laughed. This was why Kai wasn't really her type, despite being drop dead gorgeous, because, despite being silent more often then not and keeping to himself a lot, he was just as vain as her other guy friends such as Tala, Johnny or Enrique. Cathy burst into another fit of laughter as she tried to imagine Kai acting like Johnny, or even better yet, Enrique.

Kai raised a blue eyebrow at Cathy. "Do I even want to know what, or should I say whom you're laughing at?" He asked suspiciously. Cathy grinned conspicuously, as Milena caught on as well.

Kai scoffed. "_I am not like Enrique_!" He retorted before turning towards Mystel to explain what was going on.

Cathy blinked twice. "How did you know?" She demanded to know.

"You're way to easy to read." He answered before going back to his conversation with the blonde.

Milena sighed. It was well known in their clique that Cathy was completely readable by her expression, thus wasn't very good at keeping secrets, that it, if she didn't blurt it out already by accident.

"Oh yeah!" Cathy started. "Enrique, Johnny and I decided to ditch Tala." Cathy stated as if it were nothing. "After what he did to you that is, Johnny felt as if he could never forgive him. What about you?" Why are you still having around Tala anyways? Especially since Milena is your sister after all." Cathy asked curiously, not noticing a shadow pass over Milena's face at the mention of the red headed god.

"I couldn't ditch Tala. Even if he hurt you, Milena, he's my best friend. Besides, you should have prepared yourself for that if you were to like him, you know first-hand how much of a player he is." Kai replied with a _tiny_ bit of sympathy in his voice for Milena.

Milena didn't answer, but kept Kai's words in her head, because she was still glaring intently at Cathy for bringing up this subject.

Once they got to the skate park, Michael, Rei, Ashley and a couple of other guys Milena recognized but failed to name were already there waiting for them. Milena still couldn't get over the fact that Ashley actually knew how to skate, let along like it, and it seemed that Cathy shared the same sentiments.

"You know how to skate?" Cathy asked incredulously.

"No, I just came here to hang out with my boyfriend." Ashley replied coldly, sneering at Cathy's sports shorts and tank. Milena sighed, she figured just as much, considering Ashley was wearing a white, almost see thought tank top and an impossibly short-layered pink skirt.

As if to prove her point, she latched onto Michaels arm to Milena and Mystel's surprise. Milena grinned, if Ashley was going out with Michael that meant then end of Michael flirting shamelessly with her! She thought happily, though she felt a bit guilty at the ill thought.

Later

"Heads up!" Mystel called stopping in front of Milena, kicking his board up so he could catch it about a centimeter away from Milena's face.

"What the hell Mystel?" Milena screamed as she jumped a safe distance away from the tan blonde.

"Sorry!" Mystel laughed. "I couldn't resist! You were so zoned out!" He laughed heartedly as he jumped back into the half pipe and sped away.

Milena smiled lightly as she shook her head. Mystel really reminded her of a little kid at times.

A sudden scream interrupted Milena from her thoughts as she looked over to the slowly gathering crowd beside the railings. Milena could tell that Kai was amongst them, near the middle, after all, the pointed blue-ish gray hair was hard to miss.

"Move!" She demanded as she pushed her way to the middle. Once she reached the center, she tolled her eyes. Ashley was in the middle, clutching her ankle and whimpering pitifully. Michael and another guy were trying to support her, trying not to let her put any weight on that ankle, which didn't exactly look hurt to Milena.

Cathy seemed to notice that too, so they both glared at Kai, who was in the middle of the whole scene and left.

They went to a local Tim Horton's across park and they each ordered an iced cappuccino and a pastry.

"Can you believe that girl?" Cathy asked in disgust.

"Che. I had to put up with her for the whole two months I had left in school." Milena replied.

"Haha. I wouldn't have wanted to be you!" Cathy laughed and took a huge slurp of her cappuccino.

"Sure." Milena said, giving an all-knowing smile.

Cathy glared at her blue haired friend. "I don't trust you with that grin on your face." She commented raising an eyebrow.

They stayed there for another half an hour, before Kai and Mystel came in and told them they were going somewhere else.

"Where are we going?" Milena asked curiously.

Kai and Mystel exchanged a smirk.

"It's a surprise." Mystel said and nothing more, commenting on how he had to concentrate on driving, while Kai just leaned back and closed his eyes as usual.

When they pulled up to an enormous sprawling mall Milena and Cathy groaned.

"Your big secret was taking us to the mall?" Cathy asked in disbelief. It was a known that Cathy hated shopping.

"Nah, I'm just stopping here to get something and to waste time, since we can't get in until after 9." Mystel replied grinning, purposely leaving out what wasn't going to open until 9.

Once they went in Kai and Mystel wandered off, telling the girls to meet them at the food court at 7. Cathy glanced at her watch. They had an hour to kill.

The first place they stopped at was HMV. They didn't actually intend to buy anything, just to wander around and listen to some music, or at least that's what they planned to do, but their plan was ruined when they found out that all the music in the CD players were oldies.

A sign above them explained it all in giant black block letters.

"60's week! Blowout sale!" Milena read aloud, as they both sighed and left.

"Hey! Look! A toy store, want to go in?" Milena asked unusually cheerful.

"Ugh, why not, since we have nothing better to do." Cathy replied unexcitedly.

"Yay!" Milena cheered laughing.

"Sugar high?" Cathy asked raising an eyebrow.

"Not really, just plain cheerful." Milena laughed.

"Ooh! Look! It's Pumba!" Cathy exclaimed hugging a giant 4' Pumba doll.

"Look who's hyper now." Milena commented sarcastically.

They began feeling a bit awkward after about 6 parents gave them odd looks.

"Haha! That was fun. Where do you want to go next?" Milena asked happily.

"I don't really care. Want to just keep wandering/" Cathy suggested.

"Sure." Milena agreed getting on an escalator.

After a while, for some reason, they didn't catch a glimpse of Kai or Mystel, which Milena found a bit weird. Although Cathy could have sworn that she saw the top of Kai's head in some dark, almost deserted run down store.

"Do you really think you can pull this off?" Kai asked cynically, trying to suppress an urge to smirk evilly.

"It should, considering we spent a small fortune on these ID's." Mystel argued holding up the small stack of laminated cards.

"I think the money we spent on Cathy was a waste though." Kai commented monotonously.

"Why? After all, Milena's going, so we can all drag her there!" Mystel pointed out laughing.

"I'd rather not, after all, I love my life and I don't want to lose it at the age of 18." Kai told the blonde.

"Just by dragging her…?" Mystel started.

"That can lead to death." Kai informed him.

"Yo!" Cathy called out running down the escalator as Milena followed suit. Mystel quickly shoved the cards in his baggy jeans.

"We're done here, do you guys want to leave?" Mystel asked casually.

"Hell ya!" Cathy exclaimed all to quickly.

Later, as they pulled up into the parking lot of a new trendy dance club, Cathy took one look at it and was about to jump out of the car.

"Why the hell are we here for?" She demanded to know while trying to unbuckle her seat belt.

"I made some fake ID's so we can get in to the club." Mystel told the girls grinning.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Cathy growled narrowing her eyes.

"Hmm, I just thought of something. Mystel and I can probably get in with no problems since we look 21, but Cathy and Milena might have a little problem." Kai realized, especially Milena, considering she had a cute baby face, and the same went for Cathy, though now as badly.

A solid thud was heard as Cathy punched Kai square in the jaw. She the got up and brought her face close to Kai's.

"What the hell was that supposed to mean?" She screamed in his ear.

"It means you're immature." Kai replied as a matter of factly. Though he earned another solid punch on the back of the head for that comment. He growled threateningly. It was bad enough to get hit, but when he couldn't even defend himself? That was just low, but for Cathy…His left eye twitched a little, but other then that, he decided wisely to keep his mouth shut.

"So are you going?" Milena asked hopefully.

"Fine, but I'm going to be a rock that's eating…wait, I don't trust the food."

"Who cares, let's just go." Mystel urged parking the car and getting out.

As soon as they walked in, trouble had found them. Once they got past the ID check and walked into the pumping music, Kai punched a guy for leering at Milena in a _very_ wrong way.

"Yo man, you think you're so great, bet you'll just get beat. You're such a fuzz and I'm gonna kick your ass!" A group of guys around 25 approached Kai, the leader rapping.

Kai looked at the guys. Stoned punks. He thought sneering, but the sneer was wiped clean off his face when he got a smooth punch in the gut.

"Screw you!" he yelled clutching his stomach. That seemed to trigger everything as two guys ganged up on Mystel and the other two on Kai.

Cathy and Milena stood in the front looking at the scene worriedly, not sure how to interfere. Mystel was sporting a bleeding nose and lip, as well as a black eye, not to mention other bruises that would be all over his body. His usually neat braid was in shambles and coming undone.

Kai's situation was even worse. He had never looked so pathetic in his life. Apparently, he was doing fine with the two guys until more of the gang members joined in. He was being held firmly on the ground, with six guys circling around him, all kicking his, and one guy was even stepping all over him. Finally, the leader, an incredibly muscled man of about 27, was going to deliver the final move by jumping onto the now stomach up Kai.

Milena cringed as she waited for the agonizing scream, but one never came, thanks to an interruption by Cathy.

" Why are you beating him up?" She asked, though the answer was fairly obvious. Her eyes were filled with worry and concern for her blue haired friend.

"We were the most popular kids in town. Every girl would trip for us. Then came this clown, who came on a bus they took away our crown." The leader rapped to the beating music.

Cathy raised an eyebrow, sighed then rapped back. "You all just jealous of him. Keep down you wish you were the clown. But you guys all have no way of solving without fist. You can't do anything with out a hass'." Milena eyes popped open. Let's just say Cathy didn't exactly have the greatest rapping skills… scratch that, she had no rapping skills.

Suddenly, Ashley and a few of her friends walked up, as well as a few of their boy toys. Although Ashley wasn't exactly happy when Michael ran off somewhere when they heard the commotions, Ashley went straight there and saw a guy who looked extremely like Michael.

"Where did you go?" She screamed and slapped the guy, having mistaken him for the Michael who deserted her in the dark club.

"What the fuck?" The guy complained but when he got a fairly good look at Ashley he put on a sleazy smirk. But Ashley wasn't paying any attention to him. She was staring at her hand going in shock. She had broken a $50 nail that she had just gotten done that afternoon. She started shrieking and bringing justice to her deceased nail.

To everyone's surprise, she somehow managed to scare the guys off.

Cathy would have never admitted it, but she was fighting a losing battle. Four punks against one. If it weren't for Ashley's feminism, they might have gotten beaten up pretty badly, or worse killed.

"Ashley! You did something useful for once!" Mystel praised holding a hand to his stomach.

"Shut up Kehl!" Ashley retorted.

Cathy and Milena decided to see how Kai was doing, considering he was having a difficult time getting up.

"You ok?" Cathy asked kneeling down.

"My head…" He moaned.

"Ow!" Kai protested painfully.

"Shut up, I'm doing the best I can." Milena scolded placing an ice pack on Kai's back, though it was more like dropped it 4 feet.

"Remind me to never go to you for medical help." Milena didn't reply. She hated how the night ended.

Mystel went home with quite a few shoeprints and bruises on him, but other then that he was ok.

Milena rolled her eyes and checked her watch. It read 2:32.

Cathy still wasn't back from her walk. Milena knew that she wondered off a lot of the time but she usually knew the area pretty well. That and she didn't have any money or a cell phone on her. Before Milena's worry got out of hand, Cathy came walking in holding a mint chocolate chip flavored ice cream cone.

"Leave it to you to only get one." Kai commented dryly.

"It would have melted while I was walking back." Cathy shrugged as she turned on the T.V.

"Is there anything good on?" Milena asked while cleaning up the ointments while Kai went to go take a shower.

"Um…Hey, isn't that Hilary Tatibana the news?" Cathy asked

"The actress and heir to Tatibana Inc.?" Milena asked, "the whore right?" She rolled her crimson eyes.

"Look at the crowd…hey, isn't that Tala?" Milena glanced closely at the flat screen. Cathy was right, it was Tala all right; the twin spikes of his were definitely one of a kind. He was accompanying Hilary as she stepped out of her stretch limo.

"Hey!" Cathy protested as Milena grabbed the remote away from her and switched to an infomercial.

"What's wrong?" Cathy asked densely.

"Tala Ivanov." Milena mumbled.

"Come on, get over it, it's not like the guy doesn't care that you left without a word."

"He what?" Milena asked so she could hear it again.

"Huh?" Cathy asked not getting that her friend was asking.

"He cared that I left?" Milena grabbed Cathy by the collar.

"Well, he's known you for as long as he knew Kai so of course he cares."

"What did he say?"

"God, practically strangled me, same with Tala." Cathy rolled her eyes. "He also demanded to know where you were. He said something about you owing him $70 and he thought you were hiding it from him and yeah." Cathy, who was obviously not good at cheering people up, had no idea how much those words hurt Milena.

"Did he say anything else?" Milena asked hopefully.

"Well, I told him that you were gone for good and he said, no more uh…um cat got my tongue." Cathy rolled her eyes. "I'm really tired." She got up and went to her so-called room, despite Milena's protests. Since here eyes were barely open, she walked in to Milena's room instead. A few moments later, she came out with a rugged, old, brown teddy bear.

"What's this piece of rug doing in my bed?" Cathy asked yawning.

"Hey, give me that!" Milena demanded grabbing the bear into her arms.

"You still have that piece of shit?" Kai asked rubbing his wet blue locks with a white towel.

"So, I don't know where I got it, but I somehow know it's special to me…" Milena just barely whispered hugging the bear tightly to her chest with a serene yet melancholy look on her face.

Kai rolled his eyes. "Stupid, you actually forgot."

"You know then?" Milena asked hopefully.

"Oh yeah, I just happen to keep track of all your toys and where they come from." Kai answered sarcastically.

"Whatever, I'm going to sleep now if you don't' mind." Cathy mumbled and actually walked in the right room.

The days came by as quickly as they went. Cathy and Kai left before Milena could say "yay." After they left Milena missed them a lot, but University starts in a week, which left all of Milena's spare time preparing.

Milena had decided to live in a dorm for easier access to campus and friends, since her apartment was about 20 minutes away from campus.

The University of Toronto was great. Milena had decided to take a master's degree after the first four years. She had decided to become a psychiatrist. She had decided on that after she had left Vancouver.

Relationships. Big word. She couldn't understand it. But she was sure that she could figure it out. After all, it wasn't just her that had these problems. Milena sighed. She had to admit she really did miss the red headed boy. Even though he broke her heart and all, she still cared for him deeply. Though, even though she wouldn't admit it to anyone, she still cared about him as much as she did 2 years ago when she first fell in love with those bright turquoise eyes.

Week later

Milena groaned. How hard could it be to find a single room in a single dorm? Apparently very hard.

"398…" She muttered to herself. "Ah ha!" She cried out loud as she inserted the key in the lock. She walked in and saw a girl with spiky red hair.

"Salima!" She exclaimed happily. She raced to her and gave her a hug.

"Hey Milena! I didn't know that you were going to University of Toronto!" Salima smiled returning the hug.

"Well, we're roommates, how coincidental!" Milena exclaimed happy that her friend was also going to be her roommate.

"Not just me, Rei, Mystel, Michael are here too!" Salima informed her.

"Michael!"

"Yeah, he figured out which courses you'll be taking and he's taking the same ones." Salima smiled slightly at Michael's tactics.

"Greeatt." Milena muttered.

"What are you taking?" She asked changing the subject.

"I want to be a teacher, hopefully one for the littler kids." Salima replied. "What about you?"

"Psychiatrist."

"Oh really? My cousin Brooklyn wants to become one too! You might just be in many of his classes!" Salima exclaimed.

"Then why don't you bring him to the café and I'll bring Rei, Mystel. And why not, Michael." Milena asked.

"Ok, how about after our first class? What do you have?" Salima asked.

"Human relations…you?" Milena asked checking her schedule.

"Same, haha, we might be in more of the same classes then we thought!" Salima pointed out at their schedules, they also had English and History together.

Human Relations Class

"Milena! What a pleasant surprise!" Michael exclaimed pretending to be innocent.

"Cut the crap, you totally planned this." Milena raised an eyebrow.

"So?" Michael asked smirking.

"Hush class, I'm Mr. Motrey and I'll be your Human Relations professor.

Milena quickly scanned the class for a place to sit. The only empty space left was beside a boy with flaming orange hair, almost the exact same as Tala's. Milena stopped dead in her tracks, she couldn't sit there, it would feel to weird, considering that's where she sat in another social studies class back in Vancouver. She also felt another pang of sadness at the reminder of Tala.

"Miss, please get a seat." Mr. Motrey snapped.

'Short temper." Milena thought and sighed, guess she would have no choice. She managed to avoid talking to the guy for a whole period. As soon as the bell rang, Milena went straight to Mystel and Michael to head over to café.

"Hey, what dorms are you guys in?" Milena asked the guys. "We're all in Drigger Dorm." Mystel told her. "I'm roomies with Michael. Unfortunately." He added laughing. "And Rei's with some…" He paused trying to remember the guy's name.

"Brooklyn Kingston." Rei interrupted.

"Brooklyn…isn't that Salima's cousin?" Milena asked.

"Yeah, you were sitting next to him." Rei informed her.

"What…" Milena thought in horror…the guy that looked unbelievably like Tala was actually the 'Brooklyn' she was talking about…Salima's cousin…café…Milena's eyes widened in horror, she had been so rude to the guy and now she was going to meet him. Milena sighed; she wasn't exactly looking forward to this meeting, especially if their personalities were also replicas of each other's.

R&R please. What do you think of it so far? Brooklyn finally comes in…sort of;;. And check out my other fic Meteor Garden, we finally got a one of the climaxes.


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks to all that reviewed! And I realized I had gotten Michael's last name wrong, so sorry about that.

Milena walked next to Salima as they headed to the café to meet this 'Brooklyn'.

"What's Brooklyn's next class?" Milena asked out of curiosity."

"Psychology. He apparently wants to be a psychologist and work in a mental institution or something." Salima replied laughing.

"That's a coincidence." Milena commented lightly though the red heads words struck a cord.

As they reached the café Milena came face to face again with Brooklyn Kingston. It seemed that Salima shared quite a few similarities as Cathy seeing as she tried to set them up after only a few short minutes by leaving them alone at the table.

"So…" Milena started awkwardly fidgeting nervously. Though Brooklyn didn't share her uneasiness, he was sitting calmly with his arms crossed and just gazing at her. And the calm façade painfully reminded her of another red heads. In fact, everything about this Brooklyn reminded her of him. The flaming orange hair, only a few shades lighter then Tala's, and the inquiring aquamarine eyes, which were bright and lively just like a certain pair of turquoise ones. And their statures matched fairly well too, both just a little over 6'.

"Why did you want to pursue a degree in human psychology?" Milena asked breaking the awkward silence.

"Well, from past experiences I have trouble with relationships. And I want to learn more about how they work and such a perhaps help other's with it." A silky voice spoke smoothly with soft smile, though evident pain hidden behind it.

"I thought you wanted to work in a mental institution?" Milena blurted out surprised.

Brooklyn chuckled. "Did my cousin tell you that?" He asked with a broader grin.

Milena blushed at this, and nodded her head slightly.

"That's just her opinion on it after I told her I wanted to major in psychology." Brooklyn explained easing Milena's embarrassment a little.

"Actually, I'm majoring in psychology too." Milena told him, her blush subsiding. "Since relationships are so complicated to understand. It's like one minute you're in heaven floating on cloud nine and the next minute your plummeting down from that cloud into the deepest pits of hell." Milena spoke softly, as her crimson eyes glazed over.

Brooklyn glanced at her in surprise. It was as if the girl read his mind. She understood his words perfectly.

"You have the exact feeling about this as me." Brooklyn spoke giving her a sad smile.

"Trust me, I speak from first hand experiences."

"So then, what made you think that way?" Brooklyn asked softly, noticing the girl tearing up a little.

"Well…"

Milena paused, it was hard to actually say this, especially to someone who looked undeniably like the one that did this to her.

Before Milena could continue, Michael came back from getting their orders and plopped down next to Milena.

"Parker, back all ready?" Milena asked grabbing a cappuccino from the tray.

"Yup, the others are still waiting for the orders but I came back to tell you we have to leave for General Social Sciences." Michael told her pointing to the clock that hung on the wall.

"I have to go, but you want to hang out tomorrow at lunch?" Milena asked Brooklyn, who was still seated their looking at nothing in particular.

"Sure." He replied smoothly.

"So tell me a little about Milena." Brooklyn asked Rei later that night after they both retired to their shared dorm.

"What, do you like her?" Rei asked teasingly baring his fangs.

"No…just curious, she intrigues me." Brooklyn replied after contemplating about it.

"Ok, well, she came from Vancouver, she's a really good boarder, she's loaded…and yeah…that's bout it." Rei ticked off with his fingers.

"No, that's not what I meant, I meant like, her past and last name." Brooklyn told the Chinese boy lying back on his bed arms stretched out beneath himself.

"Her last name is Hiwatari and her past… I have to clue. Though now that you mention it, she never explained her past." Rei realized. "Or why she came here."

"Do you know somebody that knows?" Brooklyn asked now thoroughly intrigued by the shorter blunette.

"Let's see, Mystel might know more, the guy is practically her best friend."

"Thanks." Brooklyn smiled, thinking of a way to ask Mystel without Milena knowing too much.

"So you do like her." Rei grinned.

"Like I said before, she intrigues me, but I don't like her in the way you're hinting at." Brooklyn smiled as he closed his eyes feigning sleep.

"Sure, whatever you say." Rei smiled and turned his attention back to his essay.

Brooklyn's head was racing with thoughts. But the questions that stood out above the rest were what Rei kept asking him. 'Do you like her?' it haunted him, though even he couldn't answer it truthfully. He scoffed inwardly. 'I just met her…but there's something about her that I admire.'

"Yo Brooklyn, you awake?" Rei's voice broke his thoughts. Brooklyn opened his eyes and noticed that he was halfway into falling off his bed. He laughed and got up, assuring Rei he was all right.

"You want to come skateboarding with us?" Rei asked closing his MSN Messenger. "It's about a ten minute drive from here. Mystel, Michael, myself, Salima and Milena are going."

"Why do you ask? I'm not a skater." Brooklyn simply replied.

"Well, your cousin is going to be there, and so is _Milena_." Rei emphasized.

Brooklyn merely chuckled. "Sure, but you'll have to teach me how to skateboard." Brooklyn agreed.

"If you want to learn you should get Milena or Mystel, or even Michael to teach you instead. Their all way better then me and have more experience." Rei informed the new addition to their group.

As Milena went on the rainbow run Brooklyn cam up behind her.

"Where did you learn how to skate?" He asked casually, while trying to get the hang of moving on the board. For someone who always looks so calm and collected, Brooklyn looked out of place at the park, as he kept wobbling unsteadily. Though Milena had to praise him for getting the hang of it fairly quickly.

"I hung out with my brother and his friends a lot, so I learned along side them." Milena told him smiling.

"So you hang around skaters?" Brooklyn asked raising an orange eyebrow.

"Yep." Milena answered proudly. "I have a few pictures I can show you some other time." She offered. Brooklyn nodded as he digested this new information about the otherwise enigmatic girl.

"Milena!" Salima ran over smiling. "Can you show me how to do the olly again?" She asked pleadingly. "You put your left foot near the end of the grip tape and your right near the front but not too front. Then jump first with the right and follow with the left." Milena explained in one fluid motion while doing a slow motion example.

"Your really good!" Brooklyn praised clapping.

"I try hard at what I do." Milena grinned wholeheartedly.

"Do you like my cousin? You two seemed to hit off well in the café and the park." Salima prodded Milena's arm smirking.

"No…. not that way. I mean, he's a nice guy and all, but not really my type…" Milena explained smiling sadly.

"Milena, why did you move here anyways? Not that I'm not glad that you did, but Brooklyn asked me earlier and when he mentioned it, I realized you never told us."

Milena stared at her feet. She knew she'd have to tell them sooner or later.

"My heart shattered. I couldn't take it anymore and didn't have the guts to pick the pieces up in front of him." She said softly.

"Whole story." Salima demanded.

"Remember in the picture I showed you." Milena stop up and took out a picture of Tala, Enrique, Johnny, Cathy, her and Kai. "He's my problem." She pointed the slim red head at the very left.

"He doesn't look like a problem, he's drop dead gorgeous!" Salima gushed.

"I've like him for over two years now, almost three. But since I'm such a coward I never told him, since we were pretty good friends."

"Did you notice you though?"

"Well, not really, since he's my brother's best friend, so I've known him for just as long, but he thinks of me as just one of the gang or 'Kai's little sister'."

"So…" Salima urged.

"Cathy finally couldn't keep her mouth shut and told him. Tala Ivanov."

"Ivanov… that names sounds really familiar." Salima mused.

"He's the son of Dimitri Ivanov, CEO of Ivanov Corps." Milena informed her off-handedly.

"Wow, he's really somebody then huh?" Salima asked awed.

"Yeah, but that's not the bad thing. It's just that he's a really big player and always has a girlfriend latched onto his side." Milena sighed.

"Ouch, tough, that must hurt." Salima winced as she gave her friend a hug.

"Yeah, but I guess it could be sort of my fault, because I knew he only thought of me as a friend though I wanted to be more. But Kai what a player he was warned me and I guess I got burned when I played with the fire. Though what really hurt was that despite how Cathy told his the whole story and how I really like him he dismissed it as quickly as it came and went out and asked another girl out in front of me…" Milena trailed off.

"So you couldn't take it anymore and left."

"Yeah."

"Do you still like him then?" Salima asked softly.

"I'm not really over it, though it's getting easier to think about him without it hurting."

"Is that why you ignored Brooklyn in the beginning?" Salima asked curiously.

"Yeah, because he looks so much like Tala, it was just kind of odd."

"So do you like him?" Salima asked once again grinning.

"Who?" Milena asked tilting her head up.

"Brooklyn."

"I don't want to face the whole relationship thing again so no."

"You mean you're never going to fall in love again?"

"I guess." She shrugged.

"Milena, am I the only one that knows this?" Salima asked, not really sure if it was ok to tell all this to Brooklyn.

"No, Mystel knows."

"You told Mystel instead of me…?" Salima glared pouting.

"Nope, my idiotic brother blurted out the whole story to him when he was here over the summer." Milena sighed, glaring at the thought.

"Oh ok." Salima laughed.

Milena sighed and went on the computer and logged onto her MSN Messenger.

She had an email from Cathy. She read it slowly.

Yo Milena! How's Toronto U., Vancouver is ok, and Tala and Kai are reading over my shoulder right now so none of our secret stuffP. So how's life? And tell the fangirls that if they want to see Kai then all they have to do is give me a $10 000 fee. LMAO! A girl has to make money somehow huh? Well, ttyl Cathy.

_A_n annoying ring filled the room. Cathy had just signed on and was impatiently trying to get her attention.

Cathy says:

Yo Milena!

Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:

Hey

Cathy says:

God… ppl are annoying these days, especially the skater group.

_Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:_

LoL, why?

Cathy says:

They kept on going in my room unless I lock it, which I do but argh, here they come now!

_Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:_

_Lol._

Cathy says:

Kai here…Miss your big brother? Tala now! Milena, where the fuck are you?

_Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:_

Fine

She stopped. How was she supposed to answer Tala's question? If she told him, he just might show up at her door one day if he were bored.

Cathy says:

Tala again…Hey did you already get a boyfriend?

Milena gasped…there was no way he could have known about her encounter with Brooklyn.

_Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:_

No.

Cathy says:

Then what's with your msn name, it sounds like you were dumped.

_Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:_

Well, there's only one guy for and I still love him.

Cathy says:

Who are you referring to?

Cathy says:

Kicked him out of my room… he's gone now.

_Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:_

Thanks…so who's your room mate anyways?

Cathy says:

Some slut called Sae. Anyways I g2g if I don't go to the park with them now their going to break down the door.

With that Cathy logged off. After a few seconds she came back on.

Cathy says:

BTW, I'm going out with Kai!

With that she logged off before Milena could say anything.

Haha, I'll probably do the next chapter about what happened in Vancouver and so on…maybe. Read & Review pleas


	5. Chapter 5

Major chapter plot wise. This is also where I stopped writing on paper, so now I have to come up with every chapter on my own, so updates will be slower.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Milena smiled. How Cathy and Kai got together would be a great story. Especially since the two of them had a continuous one-sided verbal argument since they learned to talk. Though it was always Cathy yelling at Kai, while Kai would just reply with his usually 'hn', which usually made her angrier. She grinned happily for her friend, and made a note to herself to bug Kai about it later.

She slowly closed her Messenger window but decided to remain logged in. She then decided she might as well start her essay for psychology class. The annoying ring filled her ears again. She really needed to turn that off. She glanced at the bottom side of the screen, then name read "Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do"

Milena's eyes widened. It couldn't be who she thought it was. He wasn't supposed to be on the computer for a while. She looked at the email address. Yup. It was the only person she knew with an eight-word address. Tala Ivanov. new conversation window opened.

Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do says:

Hey

Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do says:

Milena you there?

It was known that Tala had even less patience in waiting for an answer on Messenger than Cathy.

_Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:_

Yeah, what do you want?

Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do says:

Ouch…nice as ever I see.

_Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:_

Yup, weren't you going to go skateboarding with Kai and Cathy?

Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do says:

I was but then my father called and told me I had to do read and write a report on some contracts and stuff for his company so I can run it more successfully when he hands it over to me

_Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:_

Haha, tough luck

Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do says:

Yeah, so what's going on with you?

_Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:_

Nothing exciting, researching for an essay, you?

Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do says:

Same, so how's where ever you are?

_Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:_

It's ok, how's Vancouver?

Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do says:

Same as usual, how's life there?

_Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:_

It's ok, but it seems kind of odd without you

Milena cursed. I sent that! She winced, waiting for Tala's reply.

Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do says:

Ha! I knew it! Your hopeless without me…but then again who wouldn't be! Lol, after all, how can you not miss my godliness?

Milena let out a breath she didn't no she was holding

_Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:_

Sure sure, I g2g, I'll let you deflate that enormous ego of yours while I'm gone. Cya!

Milena sighed off quickly before she could see the red heads reply.

"So whom were you talking to?" Salima asked.

"Tala."

"That guy?"

"Yeah, _that_ guy." Milena rolled her eyes.

Before Milena realized, it was Christmas, and Milena was on a plane returning to Vancouver. Her father had sent her a letter and the ticket. At first, Milena wasn't sure if she should go, not wanting to face the questions she would obviously be asked.

Though she had to admit she missed her friends a lot more then she let on to anyone, even, shockingly, Kai.

The months had flew by at an impossibly fast speed. It was almost eight months since she left. Milena let out a heavy sigh, now that she had decided to go back, she had another huge problem. Christmas presents.

Milena smiled, yet another trip to the mall to get presents for her friends back home. She had already gotten presents for her friends here a few days ago.

After a good five hours searching the mall, she bought Kai, Cathy, Enrique and Johnny and a few other friend's presents. But she was still missing Tala's. After yet another five grueling hours and walking up and down the mall about fifty times and completely memorizing the mall's floor plan, the finally spotted what might interest the red headed god.

I hope he likes it. She thought anxiously to herself. The set of presents were his style, but…she was still so afraid that he wouldn't like it and toss it to the Salvation Army truck that went around during the holidays.

'I hope Cathy saves me from awkward conversations…wait knowing her she'll be the one that starts them…' Milena thought laughing.

'I wonder if he still remembers what Cathy told him on the soccer field.' Milena mused to herself frowning.

But Milena had a deep feeling in her chest she recognized as guiltiness.

'I love Tala, and I always will, but why do I have a sudden feeling that I love somebody else too?' she wondered over the strange feeling of betrayal to another when she thought of the red head.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"The plane has landed in the runway and is now moving towards the gate. Please remain seated until further notice." A woman's voice announced monotonously.

"Home." Milena muttered to no one in particular.

As Milena got off the plane, she immediately caught site of Cathy and Kai, who looked suspiciously like they were holding hands, but before she could prove her suspicion, Cathy ran up to her and gave her a grin.

Kai looked the same as ever, now leaning against a wall with his arms crossed waiting for them.

"Hey, remember I told you that I had a hooker for a roommate?" Cathy asked. "Well, guess what."

"What." Milena asked raising an eyebrow.

"I make $2000 out of her."

"Was it legally?" Milena asked laughing.

"Probably not, but she paid me $1000 each to get her hooked up with Johnny and Enrique." Cathy laughed. "But the best part was that they rejected her flat out cause they already have girlfriends."

"She must have been pissed." Milena speculated.

"She's damn loaded so she couldn't care less, though she did offer me $10 000 to get her a meeting with Tala. But since I'm the good friend I am, I refused for your sake." Cathy sighed dramatically.

"Thanks…I think." Milena laughed.

"Come on, let's go, the others are waiting for us." Cathy dragged Milena by the arm to Kai's car, leaving Kai with all the luggage once again.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHiwatari MansionOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Welcome back!" Everyone shouted as Milena entered her house.

Everyone had come, including Tala. Though the big surprise was that he was alone.

Johnny and Enrique were with two girls that Milena recognized but couldn't name.

"Hey! Thanks for all coming!" Milena smiled.

"Let's party!" Enrique shouted popping open a vodka bottle and began pouring it down a pyramid made of wine glasses.

"Put on a slow song!" Enrique demanded as the hired DJ obliged.

As the song started playing, everyone went to their girlfriend or boyfriend, leaving Milena and Tala standing to the side.

"Want to dance?" Tala asked giving her an adorable lop sided grin.

"Um…. sure I guess." Milena blushed heavily.

From the corner of her eye, she could catch Cathy giving her a thumbs up from where she was dancing with Kai.

Milena turned her gaze back to find her head pressed against Tala chest as he wrapped his arms around her wait.

Milena's face heated up instantly, if that were still possible. She gave a small grin, maybe this would be a good omen for things to come, what she didn't know was that Tala caught this, as his bright turquoise eyes began to analyze this little scene with an unknown light in them.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOChristmas DayOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"It's Christmas day!" Milena yelled loudly laughing.

"Presents!" Cathy exclaimed as everyone sad around the tree, and somehow by 'coincidence' Milena ended up sitting squashed next to Tala.

'Cathy is so dead' Milena gritted her teach.

"Milena first!" Cathy encouraged.

"Ok." Milena had gotten Johnny a new bandana with a salamander on it, Enrique an expensive cologne, and gave Kai top of the line hair gel.

"Where's mine?" Cathy whined.

"Here, a MMC card for your mp3."

"Thanks."

"So where's Tala's?" Cathy teased nudging her friend even closer to the red head that was in a heated argument with Johnny that had something to do with their hair color.

"Here!" Milena threw a folded black t-shirt and a small box into his lap.

"I'm like a stove. Come and get me cuz I'm hawt hawt hawt." Tala read out loud.

"Thanks! I love it." Tala gave a grin, and then started opening the box. It was a white gold chain with a small thin rectangular piece hanging off of it. On one side there was an engraving of a wolf's head, while on the other side the words 'Merry Christmas. Love Milena' were engraved into it.

"Sweet thanks!" Tala grinned leaning forward and gave her a quick kiss on the lips, leaving Milena stunned.

"Oh yeah, give Tala the most expensive present." Cathy teased, which make Milena turn into a human tomato.

If that wasn't bad enough though, Cathy gave Milena a hard push on the back, which make Milena fall onto Tala's lap.

"Are you ok?" Tala asked looking down at her clearly amused.

"Yeah…" Milena went redder. Tala's face was too close for comfort. His turquoise eyes were glittering with laughter, but they also held concern. And his two bangs danced in front of his face teasingly, making Milena want to brush then away.

"I think I'll leave now…" Cathy interrupted them, as Milena realized she had been staring at Tala for some time now.

"Um, I think I'll go to." Milena answered awkwardly getting up.

"Come back any time!" Tala smirked.

Later that night, after most of the people left, so that there were only Kai and Cathy left they sat around in the family room lounging around and drinking hot chocolate.

Though normally Milena would be delighted in just hanging around the red head, that morning's incident wouldn't get out of her head, and was replaying itself over and over.

Normally, Milena would consider that normal, but that dreadful feeling of guilt was back as well, going at full power. No matter how much Milena thought about it, she couldn't figure out why the feeling wouldn't leave her along.

Milena sighed, going back in her memory to try and figure out when this feeling of guilt whenever she would think about Tala started.

The more Milena thought about it, the more confusing it became. When it came down to it, Milena realized she hadn't even really thought about the red head for a while before the Christmas invite.

In fact, only a few weeks after classes began, the red head was almost completely out of her mind, only coming back once in a while in her dreams. But even then Brooklyn would…

Milena gasped…that was it…Brooklyn.

She would almost always be in the company of Brooklyn, which might explain why Tala hadn't been in her every thought for a while.

Come to think of it though, they were together so much that even their friends have been teasing them, asking whether they were going to get serious and officially become a couple.

As the evening went on, and everyone headed to go to sleep, Milena couldn't get over this new realization, as she kept thinking about it even as she lay in her bed.

True, one of the reasons she started to hang around Brooklyn so much was his uncanny similarities to Tala, which actually helped eased the pain.

But Milena knew there had to be more to it. After all, if all Brooklyn did was replicate Tala for her, she shouldn't feel so guilty when she was in thinking about, or with the real thing.

Milena racked her brain again for answers. Brooklyn was also unique in his own kind of way. While Tala was more fun loving, Brooklyn was a lot more reserved. In fact, when it came down to personalities, Brooklyn and Tala were in no way alike. Though they were both considerably smart, and never fail to be witty in their own ways.

It was also true that she felt considerably more comfortable with Brooklyn, and her face didn't turn into a tomato every time they talked, in fact, they had become the type of friends where almost everything could be discussed, and there were no boundaries in discussion topics. That is, unless it came to close to another certain red head.

Milena suddenly felt horrible. Brooklyn had revealed everything about his past to her, or at least why he didn't really want to get into a relationship.

It was all because of a girl name MingMing. They had grown up together and were part of a really close-knit group of friends. Yet a couple of months after they started going out, Brooklyn had found MingMing cheating on him with a guy he didn't know, apparently an old ex-boyfriend she had kept in secret.

Milena sighed in frustration, burying her head in her pillow. She was exactly like that MingMing, and she doubted Brooklyn would want to go out with her anyways.

Milena smirked inwardly, so much for her promise to not get into any more relationship.

Unfortunately, the next few days of Milena's winter vacation were hectic at the best, leaving her no more time to ponder over this new 'Brooklyn problem'. Yet again, Father Time wasn't kind and she had to leave much to soon for her liking.

As she was about to get registered to go into the terminals, Kai came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"Whatever it is that your stressing about, just do it. You shouldn't hesitate when you move, just do it without regrets and hope for the best. Unless it's illegal, then stay away from it." Kai added smirking.

"How did you know?" Milena asked surprised.

"I don't share the same DNA as you just to give you my good looks you know." Kai smirked.

"Sure." Milena gave him a playful punch on the shoulder.

"But seriously, if you're worried over something, a decision. Just do it according to your instincts like a true, proud Hiwatari." Kai advised giving her a pat on the back.

"Thanks, I will!" Milena smiled making up her mind.

Kai gave her one last nod before letting her go.

Milena smiled, so her brother wasn't good for nothing after all. He actually gave her a major confidence booster, and now she knew what she had to do with no doubts.

As the plane took off, Milena began drifting into a light slumber, thinking of scenarios and how to approach the subject.

As she got off the plane five hours later, she found Brooklyn standing by the gate waiting for her patiently just like he said he would.

Milena let a huge grin spread over her face, as she ran up to him and gave him a hug.

"That excited to see me? Makes me wonder what your family did to you." Brooklyn teased as a gentle smile graced his featured as he returned the hug.

"I made a really important find over these few days. And I want to talk to you about it!" Milena looked up and the aquamarine eyes that shone amusement, noticing their own true beauty for the first time, as well as the rest of him.

'No more Tala, from now on, it's going to be all about Brooklyn, as an individual.'

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

R&R! She finally realizes! And I'm back from my vacation and you can expect Meteor Garden to be updated soon as well! Oh yeah, check out my new one shot about Rei and Mariah called Because I'm a Girl based on the song by Kiss.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for the slow update, I actually had this done a month ago but my computer crashed and I lost everything.. Read and Review please.

"So how was your winter break?" Milena asked grinning as they walked through the chilly parking lot towards Brooklyn's car.

"It was ok, the school felt really empty with almost everyone gone though." Brooklyn replied as he cast his gaze towards the white snow around his feet.

Milena's face fell instantly. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way…" She started, she had forgotten that Brooklyn grew up from foster home to foster home, and didn't keep in touch with any of them, his only relative being Salima, though she grew up in various foster homes as well.

"It's ok, I know you wouldn't mean it that way." Brooklyn reassured the blue haired girl ruffling her already wind swept hair and a soft smile.

Milena's grin came back instantly as she latched onto Brooklyn's arm happily.

"So are you going to tell me what you figured out over these two weeks?" Brooklyn asked teasingly. "If you got Nobel Prize worthy stuff be sure to mention me when you get to Switzerland." He laughed.

Milena's face went red again…She still hadn't figured how to tell Brooklyn, and whether he was even serious about the whole 'never getting into a serious relationship again' thing.

"Um, well, the thing is…I realized how much of a drama queen I was."

Brooklyn's soft laughter filled the chilly air. "Is that all? I could have told you that a long time ago."

"No, that's not all…it's just that…It's just that I realized no matter how hard I try, and how much I convince myself, there's no way I can not ever get into another relationship just because of one heartbreak. I guess I was really being childish when I made that decision." Milena softly said, leaning her head slightly against Brooklyn's chest.

"What made you start thinking that way? Got another guy in your sights?" Brooklyn asked smiling.

Milena took a deep calming breath. "Yeah…I do." She stared at him straight in the eye, letting go of his arm and faced him.

Brooklyn looked at her, as a light of realization hit him. He bent over a little as he placed his hand on the small of her back and gave her a kiss.

Milena's eyes widened, this wasn't the response she thought she would have gotten, but she happily returned the kiss.

Later, as they sat in Brooklyn's dorm room, Milena decided to ask him what happened to his vow to himself about keeping away from long term relationships.

"So why are you going back on your word?" Milena asked, snuggling closer to Brooklyn, content with her position half lying on his chest as he read a thick volume about the history of psychology.

"Because it was you." Was all Milena got from him.

"Because it was I?" Milena repeated confused.

Brooklyn placed his book down on his night table. "If it were some random girl, I would have said no, but it's you. I feel like I know you so well, and I have an absolute feeling that you would never betray me." Brooklyn smiled and placed a kiss on her forehead.

The dreaded feeling of guilt starting building in Milena's stomach again. She knew she should tell Brooklyn about Tala, but she couldn't. She couldn't let him no about the red head that still haunted her, despite her vow to stop thinking about him.

"Thanks, I feel so special." Milena grinned sighing contently, trying to disperse the feeling of guilt.

"Hey, Brooklyn, I'm back." Rei's voice called as the door unlocked.

"Whoa! I didn't expect to see this…" Rei smirked. "How long have you guys snuck around our backs?" He asked as Milena got off Brooklyn quickly.

"Only for the last 5 hours." Brooklyn replied smirking back.

"You better tell Salima soon before she gets mad at you for not telling her." Rei suggested to Milena, who agreed to leave the two after a quick kiss with Brooklyn.

"WHAT?" Salima screamed hugging the blunette.

"I told you you guys would go out eventually didn't I?" Salima asked rubbing it in Milena's face.

"Yeah, but you don't have to rub it in my face." Milena pouted.

"I know, but I just knew you would eventually get over your whole 'never having a relationship again' thing." Salima grinned and gave the other girl another hug.

As winter break officially ended, the classes began getting harder as well. But Milena could have cared less. She was perfectly content with her life now, Brooklyn was an absolute sweetheart and even more adorable (if that were possible) and perfect as a boyfriend. And everything seemed to be going on fine in Vancouver as well. Cathy and Kai were steady and even had plans at marriage.

Milena grinned, spotting the bright orange hair of her thoughts. She ran up and gave him a big hug, catching him off guard and almost knocking Brooklyn off his feet.

"Hey." He greeted returning the hug, though with much less force.

"Hey." Milena mimicked grinning broadly.

"What are you so happy for?" Brooklyn asked smiling.

"Because I'm with you. And because I feel like my life's just absolutely perfect right now." Milena answered happily.

"I'm glad." Brooklyn placed a kiss on her mouth.

Three Years Later Right After They Graduated

Milena and Brooklyn had surprisingly stayed together the whole time. And both had received their undergrad in psychiatry and were planning to go on and get their masters degrees, and hopefully their PhD's.

Salima had already gotten a job at a local school close to the University, and already bought an apartment close by.

Mistel was still attending Toronto U, now in the seven yr. Medical program, while a professional baseball team had hired Michael the previous year after he scored the winning run to the University Baseball League championships.

Milena grinned; she had gotten her undergrad already, and moving on to her masters together with Brooklyn.

Though like every relationship, theirs had its ups and downs as well. Though most of it was little stuff. The only main thing she tried to discourage Brooklyn from doing was being so protective and a little possessive. He was even suspicious of Mistel at times for God's sake! But Brooklyn had sworn to her that she would try and stop that, so Milena pushed that flaw to the corner of her mind. She guessed the possessiveness had to do with the whole 'MingMing situation' and Brooklyn was afraid to lose her too, which Milena had to assure him he won't like he did MingMing.

She turned on the television to see the headlines that day. As Brooklyn dropped the mail in front of her she began sorting it through while paying half attention to the news.

"_Now, the top story tonight, Tatiana Ivanov and Dimitri Ivanov of the Ivanov Corporation have announced that her only son, the heir to the multi-billion dollar company is to be wed to Hilary Tatibana, the daughter of the oil tycoon John Smith Tatibana. Their wedding will be no less fitting then one for royalty, with the two families spending an estimated 10 million dollars on the wedding ceremony alone."_ The excited anchor announced, most likely hoping to be able to go and broadcast the wedding live.

Milena froze…Tala was getting married to that slut? She then realized she was holding a fancy lavender envelope. It was titled to a Miss Milena Hiwatari. She opened it hesitantly.

_Dear Miss Milena Hiwatari_

_You are cordially invited to the one and only wedding of Tala Ivanov and Hilary Tatibana. The wedding will be on July 15 but please arrive one week prior for pre wedding ceremonies and such. Please present this invitation to the hosts for admittance. You may bring one guest only due to capacity limits._

_Cordially Yours, _

_Tala Ivanov and Hilary Tatibana_

"What's that?" Brooklyn asked, noticing the fancy paper.

"It's an invitation to Tala Ivanov and Hilary Tatibana's wedding." Milena replied softly.

"Whoa! You mean the ones just on TV right now?" Brooklyn asked his eyes widening.

"Yeah, Tala's my brother's best friend, so we hung out a lot." Milena replied forcing a smile.

"Nice…" Brooklyn relied speechless.

"You want to come with me? I'm allowed to bring one guest." Milena asked hesitantly.

"Sure…I don't have anything better to go to." Brooklyn smirked.

Milena grinned, she felt relieved that Brooklyn was coming, which would prevent her from meeting Tala face to face alone.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As Milena and Brooklyn got off the plane, the site of Cathy and Kai greeted them. Kai and Brooklyn exchanged an intense stare, before Kai decided he would accept Brooklyn. For now at least.

Cathy stared at Brooklyn raising an eyebrow.

"Why does he look so much like Tala?" She whispered anxiously into Milena's ear.

"He might look like him, but he's a completely different person than Tala." Milena answered back.

"I see." Cathy was satisfied for now, wanting to see how this "Brooklyn" would act.

As they went to get the luggage, Brooklyn carried both suitcases with ease, as Kai carried a third.

"Such a gentleman!" Cathy teased.

"I try to be." Brooklyn smiled.

As they drove past the Ivanov's mansion on their way to their own house, Milena was shocked at how much it had transformed. It was bustling with activity and people were already streaming in and out of the massive iron-wrought gates.

Tala and Hilary had decided to hose the wedding in his massive backyard, partially because it offered a breathtaking view, and because neither of them was really that religious to want it in a church.

A few days passed at Milena and Brooklyn settled in, and it was the day of the rehearsal dinner.

Milena had bought a fancy pale blue spaghetti strapped dress for the wedding that went well with her hair, as she tried to pin her silky locks up onto a messy bun.

Brooklyn was wearing a formal white suit that seemed to enhance his almost angelic features even more.

Cathy, being the stubborn girl she is, insisted on wearing pants, much to Hilary's annoyance. She was wearing formal slinky black bellbottom dress pants and a silky red and black tank that was layered at the bottom.

Milena, being the one that took the longest to get ready, found everybody already waiting for her when she went downstairs. Kai was wearing a formal black tux, contrasting greatly to Brooklyn's white.

As they got into the chartered limo, seeing as all the guests were filthy rich and most were famous, Hilary demanded on all the guests arriving in limo's to make her wedding seem more impressive, the four of them decided to share one to not waste too much gas.

As they exited the limo, Brooklyn was awed. There were so many celebrities, as well as founders and CEO's and such of many multi-million and billion dollar companies. He had never seen so many of the Forbes Richest People in one place.

Tala and Hilary were greeting guests in the Ivanov's enormous ballroom.

Hilary was dressed in an absurdly expensive custom-made strapless silk gown.

Milena had to admit she looked stunning. She had sparkles sprinkles in her hair, making it glitter every once in a while, yet though Milena couldn't pinpoint it, something seemed off about her. Milena had been at a good deal of weddings, and somehow Hilary didn't seem like she was getting married the next day, it seemed more like she was just hosting a party.

As they went up to greet the young woman, Milena's eyes strayed, trying to find a certain red head.

Taking her eyes hesitantly off the red hair, Milena congratulated the brunette with a wide grin. The brunette smiled haughtily as she thanked them, before going back to an engaged conversation with a model from Playboy.

A gentle hand suddenly grabbed Milena's wrist, at first she thought it was Brooklyn, trying to stick together with her, as she turned around with a brilliant smile.

Only her smile froze halfway, as she turned around and saw it wasn't Brooklyn, but another redhead. She quickly scanned her surroundings for her boyfriend, hoping he was still beside her.

Lady Luck wasn't on her side though, and she couldn't spot the familiar orange hair anywhere.

"Trying to avoid me?" The smooth voice asked, flowing perfectly out of the smirking pair of lips. The groom was wearing a completely black suit, silky black shirt and all. If it were even possible, he had gotten even more handsome than the last time she saw him half a year ago. Though it seemed like he wasn't sleeping well, there were extremely faint, but definitely there, black marks under his eyes, and his whole presence seemed more tired. Milena guessed it was because of the stress of the wedding, and most probably the excitement and nervousness.

"N-no." Milena muttered, glancing up at the turquoise eyes that stared down at her with amusement.

"I would think otherwise, you haven't even tried to find me to talk to me since you came." The smirk faded to a pout, as the red head shook her arm gently to emphasize his disappointment.

"Sorry, but it's you wedding you know, and I didn't want to interrupt you, especially since you seem so busy." Milena apologized, trying to avoid his piercing gaze.

A hand placed itself under her chin, and tilted her head up to meet the bright turquoise eyes.

"I would never be too busy to talk to you." Tala whispered in her ear.

"And I think you owe me some explanations…Come on." The red head started dragging her across the ballroom to an enclosed study.

Milena's mind screamed no, trying to get him to let go, but her body seemed oddly detached from her mind, as she allowed the red head's touch to stay on her arm, feeling oddly relaxed at his touch.

As they entered the study, Tala shut the door behind him, staring right at the blunette.

"You owe me a lot of explanations Milena."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Somewhere else in the ballroom, the lone orange head stood, trying to find his girlfriend among the throngs of people.

It helped greatly that he was above average height as just barely 6 foot, but he couldn't spot her.

Suddenly, he spotted pale blue cloth among the people, and the all too familiar royal blue hair with light blue streaks.

What unnerved him was a handsome red head that had his hand latched onto _his _girlfriend's arm all-too intimately, as they walked off together to another more secluded room down the magnificent hall of the mansion.

Brooklyn followed his gut feeling and decided to follow the pair, though his mind screamed no at him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Read and Review please! Wow, this story is coming to an end…only about 2-3 more chapters including an epilogue. And check out my other Beyblade stories: Meteor Garden, Because I'm a Girl, and my new one shot, Everyday Without You.


	7. Chapter 7

This is the last chapter! Then there's an epilogue, but that's going to be really short. Thanks to everyone that reviewed.

"You owe me a lot of explanations Milena." The red head demanded closing the door to a sunroom.

"Explanations? About what?" She asked nerviously, shifting uncomfortably.

"About why you left, why you didn't even say goodbye, or even give a clue about where you went to!" Tala's voice rose higher and higher, to the point where he was almost yelling.

"I had my reasons, and don't yell at me!" She replied blinking back tears.

"You know I really liked you…it really hurt when you just left without a word." Tala spoke suddenly so softly she could barely hear him.

"You're just saying that now! You obviously didn't feel that way when Cathy told you how I felt about you!" The blunette protested.

"When did Cathy tell _me_ how _you_ felt?" Tala asked frowning.

Milena scoffed as she rolled her eyes.

"Sure, you forget now! Don't you remember! During the finals for soccer! Right after your game Cathy came up to you and told you everything!"

Tala's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Holy shit! Are you serious! Is that what she was blabbering about?"

Milena felt shocked.

"You weren't listening to her at all?"

"Psh…no…you know how stressful it is to listen to her whine? And I was already ready to faint from my match." Tala smirked. "Anyways, tell me…what did she say?" He asked, his smirk widening.

"Um…that is…why do you want to know?" Milena asked getting flustered again.

The red head didn't answer, but kept on staring at her intently with those bright blue eyes.

"Alright…I liked you a lot, I had for a while then. Cathy finally told you, but you know what you did? You went and hooked up with another girl from the other school an hour later. You know how much that hurt _me_?" Milena asked, unable to hold back the rush of tears anymore.

Realization dawned him. "I'm sorry, I really had no idea." He apologized softly, wrapping his arms around her back and letting her cry onto his suit.

"I really liked you! I might have even loved you! I couldn't believe even you would have the heart to do that! It killed me inside!" Her screams were muffled by his firm chest, as he let her take out her pent up rage.

Her yells got softer and softer, as she just stood there and cried in her former crushes arms.

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Brooklyn walked hesitantly down the bright corridor. He had lost the blunette, after two turns, but he didn't want to give up looking for her. The scene he saw just kept tugging at his mind, as he tried to let go of his suspicion, trying to convince himself Milena would never cheat on him.

He suddenly heard a girl shouting down the hall, as he quickened his pace to see who that was.

He opened the door quickly, but stopped quickly, as he heard what he know determined as Milena was shouting.

"I liked you….you…another girl…how much…hurt me? Brooklyn could hear the pain in her voice.

"I'm sorry" Brooklyn opened the door a little bit more, only to find his girlfriend hugging with the soon to be groom, as she cried into his chest.

Brooklyn took a step back, as his eyes widened. He couldn't believe this. This couldn't be happening to him! Not again! He thought desperately, as he ran away blindly, not knowing which direction he was running in, but he didn't really care, he would go anywhere, as long as it was away from that scene.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Milena looked up at the door. She could have sworn she heard something. It took her a moment to realize the door was open. She could have sworn Tala closed it.

"Someone saw us." Tala stated what she had suspected.

"I should go…" Milena looked away, not daring to meet his eyes. Tala didn't object, as he slowly removed his arms from her.

"I would still like it if we could get together." Tala spoke up.

"Don't be silly! I already have a boyfriend…and you're getting married tomorrow!" Milena forced a laugh, her back facing her, so not to reveal how much she wanted to just cry at those words. Those words which she would have jumped at four years ago. In fact, it still tugged at her heart strings four years later.

"I'll cancel my wedding." Tala announced. "It was my parents idea anyways. Marry Hilary and with our two corporations combined we'll be unstoppable in the business world."

"You shouldn't do that. Besides, you didn't even ask if I would be willing to break up with Brooklyn."

"Are you?" Tala asked dead serious now.

"I…" Milena stopped, not sure what she wanted anymore, all of her old feeling for the red head came back at her like an avalanche.

"No, I'm not." Milena answered firmly, pushing down her old feelings, knowing it was in the present now, and Brooklyn had never hurt her, though Tala never meant to either. A little voice in her mind screamed.

Milena walked briskly out of the room, before that little voice could convince her to go back into Tala's arms, as appealing as it sounded.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The party had ended, as people started to stream out of the house slowly.

Milena started getting really worried. Where did Brooklyn go? She hadn't seen him since she returned from her "talk" with Tala, and she knew that he wasn't familiar with this area, so he probably couldn't go anywhere far.

She had decided to start asking people, but nobody saw him after she had left.

Soon, she was one of the only guests still left.

"What's wrong?" Tala asked, coming up from behind her.

"I can't find Brooklyn, I think he left." Milena replied sighing.

"Is your car missing?"

"No, that's the problem, but he's not in the house or the gardens."

"Maybe he went back to your house already?" Tala suggested.

"I doubt it, but I guess I'll back and check. Tell me right away if he comes back ok?" Milena pleaded.

"No problem." Tala gave a weak smile as she quickly strode out the front door.

He collapsed on a recliner in exhaustion.

'she really does love him.' A voice in his head laughed at him.

'look how worried she is over him, she obviously never felt that way about you, or else she wouldn't have left you without a word would she?' the voice kept on going.

Tala let out a sigh, rubbing his aching temple.

"Aww! What's wrong sweety? Headache?" Hilary asked striding up to him, now changed into a skimpy red nightgown. She went up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Get away from me!" The red head growled, flinging her arm away as he got up and left.

"Fine! Be that way! Just don't be like this tomorrow, or I am going to be fucking pissed!" She screamed as him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Milena slowly drove home in the heavy downpour, it was as if even the god's above felt her emotions, and decided to match the weather with it.

She walked slowly up the grand porch leading to the door, not caring if she got soaked to the bone.

She walked in dripping wet, and as she wanted, soaked to the bone. Yet she didn't feel the chill, or anything else.

The whole day's events kept going through her mind. Tala shared her feelings, Brooklyn disappeared, Tala wanted to get back together, he was getting married tomorrow…The list went on and on.

She decided it would be best if she just took a hot shower and went to sleep, and try to put what happened away for the night.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Milena tossed all night, imagining the worst-case scenarios about what happened to Brooklyn.

It wasn't until four in the morning that her dreamed up vision of what happened to him actually came true.

The sound of the phone ringing had woken her up. Seeing as nobody else was going to answer it, she grudgingly got out of bed, ready to swear off whoever dared to call at four at four in the morning.

"Hello?" She asked sleepily.

"Hello, is this Ms.Hiwatari?" a man's voice asked on the other end.

"Yes, who is this?" She asked grumpily, it better not be someone selling something, she thought to herself.

"I am from the Vancouver police department, and I'm calling regarding a man named Brooklyn Kingston, he is residing with you correct?" The officer asked.

Milena's eyes popped open immediately, now completely awake.

"Yes! Did something happen to him?" She asked stricken with worry.

"I don't know how to tell you this, but he was caught it a major car crash downtown tonight. Would you mind coming down to the station to clear up some things for us?"

Milena's breath hitched in her throat. This couldn't be happening!

"Yeah, I'll be right there." She managed to choke out.

She quickly ran to Kai's room, only to find it empty.

She was starting to get hysterical, she needed to tell someone.

She dialed the first number that came to her mind.

"It-it's Milena! Broo-Brooklyn! He-he got into a-a accident…can you meet me at the po-police station as-as soon as possible?" She begged as she got dressed.

"Thank-Thanks so much!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Milena arrived at the station in ten minutes, looking like a complete mess. Her shirt was backwards, and her hair remained unbrushed.

Her eyes were already swollen and she was still crying.

"Thank god you came!" She cried out in relief hugging the person waiting for her by the front desk.

"It's so problem…Just calm down ok?" The red head soothed, stroking her hair.

"Ahem. Ms. Hiwatari? Are you ok?" A stocky officer asked.

"Yes…" She replied wiping the tears away.

"Alright then, please come this way."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"So what happened?" Milena demanded to know as soon as they walked into the small office.

"Brooklyn Kingston had been completely wasted at the time of the accident, and he was apparently trying to walk back to your house from a small bar downtown, and he crossed a busy intersection. Unfortunately, since it was raining and slippery, the car couldn't stop on time. But again, due to the rain, it had caused multiple cars to crash there, including an oil tanker." The officer explained, looking at the girl in front of him sympathetically.

It took a while for the words to sink in.

"So…everything blew up?" She asked pitifully.

"I'm afraid so. Everyone involved in the crash died, we were barely able to identify some of the bodies."

Milena couldn't say anymore, all she could do was burst into tears.

Cathy stormed in at that moment, with a worried Kai.

"What the hell did you call me here for in the middle of the night? You better not have gotten yourself into jail!" She demanded loudly. She stopped short when she saw the crying blunette.

"Hey…whatever it is, it's going to be ok…" She reassured, giving the crying girl a light hug.

Kai glanced at Tala for an explanation, as Tala motioned for them to leave the room so he could explain without worsening the wounds Milena had already.

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Dawn had arrived now, as Milena realized Tala still had to go and get married that afternoon.

"Shit! Tala, you better go! You're wedding is in like…9 hours."

"Nah, I'm skipping it. I realized yesterday I really don't want to get married to that bitch."

"What are your parents going to say then?" Milena asked worriedly.

"Who cares?"

"Alright then. It's your decision, so I won't bug you anymore about it."

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Since Milena was the closest thing left to Brooklyn, she had to take care of all of the details, something she really didn't want to do.

She had decided to bring the body back to Toronto, which was where Brooklyn had said was the closest thing he ever had to home.

It was after Tala's phone rang with a screeching Hilary on the other end that made Milena realize she hadn't checked her cell in a while.

She quickly went home to pick up her cell.

She then realized she had a message on there, from Brooklyn!

She quickly fumbled it open and hit view.

Brooklyn's voice slowly came out, except his voice wasn't it's usually calm tone, instead, it carried a sort of crazed/maniacal tone to it.

"I hope your happy now! Is it some kind of sick game to you guys? See who can fool Brooklyn the best? Because I have to tell you, _you_ did a much better job then MingMing! You just needed someone to latch onto while your actual lover was across the continent from you isn't it? Well, I hope your happy, but you'll never be happy with that kind of guy! After all, he got himself engaged while you were away, which kind of shows you what kind of guy he is doesn't it?" Brooklyn's voice suddenly became it's usually gently tone. "Anyways, I wish you the best, because you won't be seeing anymore of me, but I hope I won't cause you that much grief, because I really loved you, you know? In fact, even now, I still love you, and I probably always will, no matter what you do." With that, he hung up.

Milena lay her arms on her steering wheel, as she cried uncontrollably. It was all clear now. The person that saw her and Tala was Brooklyn. It wasn't it spite that hurt her, she knew she deserved it, but it was his last words that pained her. He had loved her so much, and yet she threw all of it back in his face.

She felt like she was the most horrible person in the world at that moment.

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This time, the god's seemed to be punishing her.

It was an unusually sunny and cheerful day, except it was the complete opposite for Milena.

It was the day of Brooklyn's funeral.

Because of the blast and all the fire, the casket had to be closed, no amount of fixing could make him presentable unfortunately.

All of their Toronto friends had come to pay their respects, along with some teachers and other acquaintances of Brooklyn's.

'I hope you can finally find true happiness wherever you are now.' Milena wished silently as she placed a single white rose on his casket.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was only a few days after the funeral when Tala called.

"Hey, I know your still grieving and everything, but I was wondering, do we still have any hope of trying to get together?" He asked gently, not wanting to inflict pain on the still open wounds.

"I…I can't. Brooklyn died because of this, and I just want to honor him and you know, I just don't think I can be with you." Milena replied softly, remembering Brooklyn's message for her.

"Are you sure? I mean, I know you're grieving right now, but you have to move on eventually."

"I'm sure, and I know I will move on, but I won't be moving on with you. I'm sorry."

"Alright, but tell me if you ever do, because I'll always love you."

"Thank you, but don't say that. I'm sure you'll find someone else who'll love you even more." Milena replied, hanging up quickly, as she buried her face in her arms.

She had promised herself she wouldn't cry anymore. Yet his last words touched her. It was exactly what Brooklyn had told her in his last words to her.

"I'll always love you too." She answered back softly, to no one in particular, "Both of you."

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	8. Epilogue

The epilogue!

A confident woman walked briskly along the busy streets of downtown Vancouver.

It was unusually windy as the breeze whipped her navy blue hair to the side. It was early Friday night, as many couples and families started coming out to enjoy the nice weather.

She smiled wistfully as the happy families as she brushed her dark hair out of her face.

She had just gotten off work, she owned her own psychiatrical clinic in one of the magnificent highrises just a few blocks away.

She had been so happy the moment it first opened, her dream had finally come true after so many years. After Brooklyn had died, she really didn't think she would have the courage to continue that profession, it would just bring back more pain, but thankfully her friends were true ones, and had encouraged her not to quit after so many years of studying.

She was happy for them too. Mystel had become a doctor like he wanted, and now worked in the University of Toronto hospital.

Salima had become a kindergarten teacher, which Milena had no doubt suited her perfectly.

Michael had left the country and decided to go abroad and teach kids in third world countries how to play baseball, after he got tired of playing professionally for the All Stars.

Rei had also left Canada, and went back to China and started a business there. She never really found out the specifics of it, but she knew he was extremely busy there, and hardly had time to come back.

Cathy had opened her own pharmacy, and was doing quite well. Though she really didn't need the money, after all, Kai made more than enough money after he inherited the Hiwatari Corps. Milena had been so happy, Cathy had become her sister-in-law. That had been one of the happiest days after Brooklyn's accident.

The same went with Tala, he also took over Ivanov Corps, and apparently he was doing a really good job at it, with all the recent talks about the Ivanov Corps stocks rising dramatically. Though Milena had all but broken contact with Tala, only seeing him occasionally at group events. But even then, they never had much to talk about, and acted more like strangers at the same place.

She finally reached the enormous garage where she parked, she had specifically chosen one a few blocks away from her clinic, so that she could get at least a little exercise each day.

As she slowly drove out of the parking garage, she had to stop. Once again, there was a massive traffic jam at this hour, from all the people that finish work late and have to leave the downtown district.

Her crimson eyes widened in surprise as she spotted an unmistakable two spikes of blood red hair.

The red head was with a small blonde boy. She slowly rolled down her window, as she looked at them.

After he stood Hilary up on the day of their wedding, he hadn't been romantically involved anymore. Making Milena feel slightly guilty, after all, he said he would wait for her forever.

Though there were often rumors about him and another woman, he would always deny it. After all, he had adopted a little boy from Russia, about two years ago, who was the cutest thing. He had platinum blonde hair, and coincidently, had the exact same bright blue eyes as his adoptive father. Though he wouldn't seem like it, he was a really good father, making sure not to spend too much time on work and spent a great deal of time with his son.

As she drove past them, the red head caught site of her. He waved slightly, as he nudged his son and apparently told him to wave, because the child turned around a gave a bright grin with a energetic wave.

Milena gave a smile and waved back, as the light turned green and she slowly drove away, leaving the father and son to get their ice creams.

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